Rising flounders a big hit in Fukui

FUKUI (Kyodo) Two slime flounders are drawing big crowds to an aquarium in Fukui Prefecture by “jumping” for food.

According to the staff at Echizengani Museum, the home of the aquarium, the flat fish ask for their krill by “standing” 20 cm out of the water while “looking around” with their big round eyes. Sometimes they fail to get a bite because they fall over backward.

The staff say slime founders live in sand and mud along the Pacifc coast from Hokkaido to the Tohoku region. Some grow to more than 50 cm in length.

The aquarium received the two fish from a fisherman who caught them in the Sea of Japan this summer. One is about 30 cm long and the other is 25 cm.

Akihiro Inaki, deputy head of the Echizen Matsushima Aquarium, said it is rare for slime flounders to rise up above the water to search for food.